Overview
Health Service Design is a person-centered approach to designing and delivering healthcare services. It focuses on enabling access, improving the patient experience, enhancing the efficiency of healthcare systems, and improving health outcomes. Service design ensures that services are well-planned, efficient, and effective in meeting the needs of the target population.
HealthQ’s approach to the service design includes the development of a program logic (to visualise the causal chain between the inputs, activities, and outcomes), stakeholder consultation, as well as service and provider network mapping. Considering service coordination and the interconnectedness of different components within the healthcare system is a critical component of effective service design.
At HealthQ, we understand that navigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) can feel complex, particularly when it comes to audits, registration, and ongoing compliance. As a trusted consulting partner, we’re here to simplify the process and empower you with the clarity and confidence you need to meet your NDIS obligations. Whether you're seeking initial registration or preparing for an upcoming re-accreditation audit, our experienced consultants offer tailored support every step of the way.
With a strong track record in the disability, aged care, mental health, and human services sectors, we bring practical insight and sector-specific expertise to every engagement. Our approach is collaborative, respectful, and designed to support your organisation to meet the NDIS Practice Standards while continuing to deliver high-quality services to participants.
Choosing the right partner to support your NDIS compliance journey is critical. At HealthQ, we offer more than consulting—we provide strategic partnership backed by deep sector knowledge, lived experience, and real-world insight into what works. Every organisation we’ve supported has successfully progressed through the audit and registration process, and we take pride in delivering measurable outcomes through genuine collaboration.
HealthQ has worked with over 25 providers—both not-for-profit and for-profit—on a range of NDIS-related projects, including gap analyses, compliance assessments, policy development, internal audits, and the resolution of non-conformances. Our team has direct experience working with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and understands how the Commission’s expectations translate into day-to-day operational requirements.
What truly sets us apart is our ability to communicate complex regulatory requirements in a clear and actionable manner. We listen carefully, provide practical advice, and create a roadmap for compliance that aligns with your existing systems, team structures, and organisational goals. Our consultants are not only experts in NDIS compliance—they’re also experienced in strategy, governance, quality improvement, and client-centred service design. This means we can support you beyond compliance, helping to strengthen your operations and enhance service delivery.
Benefits
Approach
01
NDIS audits are a crucial component of the registration and re-registration process for providers. They are designed to assess whether your organisation meets the requirements of the NDIS Practice Standards and relevant modules.
At HealthQ, we support organisations to approach audits with confidence and clarity through a structured, three-stage process that is both comprehensive and efficient.
The first stage begins with a detailed desktop review of your existing documentation, including policies, procedures, and past audit reports. This is followed by a risk assessment workshop involving key team members. The workshop is an opportunity to discuss your services, review governance and quality systems, and identify areas where further evidence or improvements may be required.
By taking the time to understand your organisation’s structure and operations, we can tailor our recommendations to suit your unique needs.
02
In the second stage, we undertake targeted compliance sampling and testing. Based on an agreed Sampling and Testing Plan, we review client records, HR files, incident registers, complaints logs, and other key documentation.
Our goal is to identify any gaps or inconsistencies that may present a risk during the audit. We document our findings in a detailed Compliance Assessment Matrix, which serves as the basis for your action plan. Throughout this stage, we work closely with your team to verify findings, clarify anomalies, and ensure our assessment is accurate and transparent.
03
The final stage involves a collaborative workshop where we present our findings and co-develop a practical, achievable action plan. This plan outlines specific actions, timeframes, and responsibilities to ensure all areas of non-compliance are addressed before the audit takes place.
Our clients appreciate this straightforward, no-nonsense approach that turns insight into action. If required, we can continue to provide support during implementation or offer project management to monitor progress and maintain momentum.
Our clients frequently tell us that working with Health Q brings not only reassurance, but real value. They appreciate our balanced approach—one that combines deep technical knowledge with a supportive and approachable manner.
Across every engagement, our goal remains the same: to support organisations in meeting their regulatory obligations while continuing to deliver meaningful, high-quality services to participants.
“Darren and the team at HealthQ have been consistently professional, reliable, and responsive from the very beginning. Their deep understanding of SDA and NDIS compliance has been invaluable, and their support played a key role in helping us achieve a successful outcome at our most recent audit.
We genuinely appreciate their ongoing guidance and collaborative approach — it’s always a pleasure to work with them.”
- Adenium Living
At HealthQ Consulting, we specialise in program evaluation that drives meaningful improvements in the health and aged care sectors across Australia. Our approach to program evaluation is tailored to the unique needs of each client, ensuring that we monitor, evaluate, and review projects with precision and care.
We focus on identifying the most appropriate evaluation or review design by considering the context, defining the program logic, and pinpointing key evaluation areas such as process evaluation, outcomes evaluation, summative evaluation, and meta-evaluation.
Our team combines rigorous analysis with deep health sector expertise to develop monitoring, evaluation, or review frameworks that align with the Australian Evaluation Society guidelines on ethical conduct of evaluation. We assist in identifying data collection methods and approaches to analysing data to formulate actionable evaluation findings.
Additionally, we provide capacity building support for clients wishing to upskill staff in evaluation concepts, empowering your team to sustain long-term impact.
HealthQ Consulting is committed to delivering practical, evidence-based advice to review and evaluate health programs, including initiatives like Improving Access to Primary Care in Rural and Remote Areas. Our mixed-methods participatory approach ensures insights are grounded in real-world contexts, helping to optimise your program and make a meaningful impact.
Whether it’s assessing efficiency, effectiveness, alignment, or compliance, our program evaluation services are designed to enhance the quality of health and aged care services.
If you're running an NDIS-registered organisation or planning to register for the first time, understanding the audit process and your ongoing compliance responsibilities is essential.
There are two main types of audits within the NDIS: verification and certification. A verification audit is typically for providers delivering lower-risk services. This process involves a desktop review where auditors assess whether your documentation meets the NDIS Practice Standards. Certification audits are more comprehensive and apply to providers offering higher-risk supports or more complex services. These audits include an on-site assessment, interviews with staff, a review of client files, and a closer look at your organisational systems and practices.
Audits are conducted by approved quality auditors and are required at both initial registration and when renewing your registration. The outcome of the audit determines whether your organisation is compliant and eligible for registration. If non-conformances are identified, you will be given a timeframe in which to address them before the NDIS Commission makes a final decision.
NDIS providers must comply with a wide range of regulations designed to ensure participant safety, rights, and access to high-quality supports. These include having clear policies in place around incident management, complaints handling, risk management, worker screening, and participant safeguarding. You must also demonstrate that your staff have completed required training (such as the NDIS Worker Orientation Module) and possess the necessary qualifications and clearances.
Ongoing compliance requires regular internal audits, active governance oversight, up-to-date documentation, and a culture of continuous improvement. HealthQ can help you design systems that support these goals, while also preparing you to meet audit expectations and respond effectively to feedback from the Commission.
Yes, service design often includes the identification of key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs are crucial for measuring the success and impact of a service. HealthQ would typically develop a performance management framework for this purpose, and work with your team to ensure data to support the measures can be collected and measures reported.
We feel, after our initial research and consultation, that program logic is best developed by backcasting in a workshop setting. With the right workshop attendees, backcasting involves stakeholders in envisioning the future, fostering a sense of ownership and commitment to the program's success. This collaboration leads to better buy-in and support.
While evaluation, health needs assessment and service planning, feasibility reviews and NDIS services (strategy, compliance) are core services, we have also supported our clients with service design, tender preparation and funding applications, strategic planning, and business case development.
Yes. We love meeting the communities that the services and/or programs are delivered to. We have found that the views of local health service customers and local connected health services are best collected in person, face to face, and are critical to evaluation outcomes.
If you're looking for a trusted partner to support your NDIS compliance and audit readiness, we’re here to help. At HealthQ, we bring experience, empathy, and strategic insight to every engagement.
Whether you’re new to the sector or a long-established provider, our team will guide you through the process with clarity, care, and confidence.
We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Traditional Custodians of the Country on which we live, work and play and honour their connection to Country and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.
